Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fly in the Australian Grand Prix, but the heavy rain turns upside down a race that made them lose the double and almost the victory in the first F1 race of the year. Red Bull may not have had the best car, but they did have the best driver on the grid, Max Verstappen, who fought Norris for the win until the very last metre. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso were unable to finish the race after suffering various accidents. Lando Norris took third place.
An Australian Grand Prix marked by rain
The first Australian Grand Prix was marked by rain that forced the teams to start with intermediate tyres and to take every precaution. We didn’t have to wait until the start of the race to see the first retirement: Isack Hadjar was fulfilling his dream of making his Formula 1 debut, but it turned into a nightmare when he had an accident on the formation lap and wrecked his car.
The race started 15 minutes late because of this first incident, and on the first lap Jack Doohan, another of the rookies, crashed into the wall causing the first Safaty Car start of the season, which would not be the only one of the day.
Carlos Sainz retires
Carlos Sainz made his debut with Williams after a promising preseason for the Spanish driver. After showing the improvement of the British team, he had to confirm those sensations in the race. But it can’t be like this. During the first safety car, Carlos Sainz lost control of his car in the last corner and crashed into the wall, goodbye to his first race. A possible mechanical failure could have been the cause of an accident uncharacteristic of the Spaniard.
The race was restarted without further incident. Verstappen had managed to overtake Piastri into second place at the start, and was able to keep up with the McLarens for just over 22 laps, until he lost the car (strange to see the Dutchman lose the car), and second place to McLaren. From then on the “papayas” began to fly, they put 12 seconds into the Red Bull driver in just 8 laps, and everything suggested that they would fight it out for the win.
Alonso crash and twist in the F1 GP
As the race went on and the track dried up, the drivers began to take risks. Fernando Alonso, who was in tenth position, was pressuring Gasly in the fight for ninth place, when he lost control of the AMR25 and crashed into the wall while trying to gain a position. It was the second retirement of the Spanish drivers on a black day for our people in F1.
Alonso’s accident caused madness on the grid. The drivers entered the pits taking advantage of the second safety car, and took the risk of using dry tires, there was no other option despite the fact that rain was threatening again over Albert Park, since no one had changed tires until that moment, and they had to take advantage of it. Those who in principle did not risk changing tires, finally had to do so. The laps behind the safety car seemed to go on forever, and when the race was restarted, the rain came down again.
Mclaren loses the one-two
The two McLaren drivers, who had been dominating the race, wanted to increase their lead again after the safety car, and took excessive risks, perhaps because they were free to fight each other. The team should have asked them to be more cautious at that point, they were far superior. They both went off at the same corner. Norris saved his car but Piastri didn’t, and he dropped to the back of the race and lost second place to Verstappen.
And all the drivers pitted to put on intermediates again. During this moment of doubt, Lawson suffered another accident, and again a safety car. Chaos had taken hold of a race that was relaunched again with intermediates. Norris managed to keep the lead despite Verstappen, who fought for the victory until the last corner. He made it difficult for the Briton, but he couldn’t pull off what would have been a real surprise to start the year.
The Ferraris took a risk with their strategy and lost places, salvaging the points. Antonelli moved up to fifth place and Stroll achieved a great sixth place. Russell, who went unnoticed in the race, finished third to get Mercedes on the podium.
The Australian GP was marked by rain, and gave us a first race with a heart-stopping finish where Norris managed to salvage a win that seemed easy a priori, but had to sweat it out against a Verstappen who won’t let a single opportunity pass him by. Bad start for the Spanish drivers, who had to retire, but Williams achieved a fourth place with Albon and Aston Martin a sixth place with Stroll, a magnificent result for both.